Nyang languages

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The Nyang languages or Mamfe languages ( Nyang or Mamfe for short ) form a small sub-unit of the southern bantoid languages , a branch of the Benue-Congo languages , which in turn belong to the Niger-Congo .

The three Nyang languages ​​are spoken by around 80,000 people in western Cameroon . The most important language is Nyang with 65,000 speakers, after which the group is named.

Position of the Nyang (Mamfe) within the Niger-Congo

  • Niger-Congo > Volta-Congo> Benue-Congo> East-Benue-Congo> Bantoid-Cross> Bantoid> South-Bantoid> Nyang

The Nyang languages

  • Nyang
    • Nyang (Kenyang, Banyang, Manyang) (65k)
      • Dialects: Upper Nyang, Lower Nyang; Balong, Manyemen, Kicwe, Kitwii, Twii, Manyeman
    • Denya (Anyang) (12k)
    • Kendes (1.5 thousand)

Some researchers combine the Mbe (language code mfo ) and the Nyang languages ​​with the Ekoid languages to form a genetic unit Ekoid-Nyang .

See also

literature

  • Joseph Greenberg: The Languages ​​of Africa. Mouton, The Hague and Indiana University Center, Bloomington 1963.
  • Bernd Heine and others (ed.): The languages ​​of Africa. Buske, Hamburg 1981.
  • Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse (eds.): African Languages. An Introduction. Cambridge University Press 2000.
    In it: Kay Williamson and Roger Blench: Niger-Congo.
  • John Bendor-Samuel (Ed.): The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family. University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London 1989.
    Therein: John R. Watters and Jacqueline Leroy: Southern Bantoid.
  • Patrick Bennett and Jan Sterk: South Central Niger-Congo: A Reclassification. Studies in African Linguistics. 1977.

Web links